This wretched 49ers season no longer can be portrayed as a disorganized free-fall. As a steady rain served to drench hopes even further last night at 3Com Park, the Team of the '80s and early '90s took the opening kickoff and proceeded to deteriorate further -- with remarkable efficiency.

A promising first quarter left the 49ers still wanting, and any semblance of offense and defense was all but drained by halftime. In the end, a pair of touchdown passes by mistake-free Green Bay quarterback Brett Favre proved more than enough to beat the 49ers 20-3.

The 49ers, at 3-8 and losers of seven in a row, are now officially destined to finish the season with a non-winning record, the first time in 16 seasons they can fare no better than 8-8.

Heck, at this point, .500 would be more than a long shot. It would be a bona fide miracle. And 49ers general manager Bill Walsh is absolutely out of answers.

"It's frustrating. Utterly frustrating," he said, shaking his head and looking at his feet. "You try to be philosophical about it, but you can't. It's just frustrating."

Of course, the storyline has become stamped in stone: The 49ers, completely inefficient on offense behind reserve quarterback Steve Stenstrom, failed to score in double digits for the fourth consecutive game, extending their franchise record for that dubious streak of ineptitude.

And again, with the idea of the touchdown pass seemingly obsolete, the 49ers failed to reach the end zone on offense. Not since Week 6, when Jerry Rice -- remember him? -- caught an 11-yard TD pass against Carolina, have the 49ers been able to throw a pass for a touchdown.

Why can't this team win? For one thing, because it has produced only one touchdown on offense in its past five games -- one trip to the end zone in the past 54 possessions.

"While we haven't had the production at the quarterback position we would like and we're used to having, it's certainly not just the quarterback," said 49ers coach Steve Mariucci, stating the obvious. "We have to protect him, and you have to get open, and you have to run the ball and you have to have field position, the whole thing."

It's an intersting concept, apparently long since lost on this group. And, judging from a dreadful third quarter, the 49ers' defense isn't exactly on the same page, either.

Few plays can illustrate this team's series of miscues more clearly than the Packers' 2nd-and-goal play at the 49ers' 10-yard line, with just under four minutes remaining in the third quarter.

Favre faded back in a quick drop and was given a gift. Thanks to the 49ers linebackers completely blowing their assignments, tight end Tyrone Davis was wide open. Could it possibly be that easy?

49ers defensive coordinator Jim Mora could barely contain his disgust. "We've had a lot of improvement (one defense) the last three weeks, and something like that is horrible," he said. "No matter how much improvement you're making, everybody focuses on a play like that."

Mora has gone through seven different starting cornerbacks this season, and now he'll be forced to change things again. Left cornerback Monty Montgomery -- a starter all of two weeks -- left the game in the fourth quarter with a fractured right arm. Nickel back and primary punt and kick returner R.W. McQuarters was knocked out in the second quarter with a fractured right shoulder blade. Their seasons are over.

But that blown coverage simply consumed Mora. "It was an easy adjustment; that formation is something we cover all the time," he said. "It's just frustrating. There's so little margin for error. It's frustrating when you let something like that happen."

Mora will go with former starter Darnell Walker in place of Montgomery at left corner.

Saddled by massive first-half penalties -- 7 for 95 yards, with most of the damage coming via a 47-yard pass-interference call on right cornerback Ramos McDonald and a 23-yard interference call on safety Tim McDonald -- and thwarted by misfires in the red zone, the 49ers fell behind 10-3 at the break and never recovered.

Green Bay (6-5) made it tough for Stenstrom, smothering the 49ers wideouts and double-teaming Rice for old times sake. But by the end of the first quarter, the statistics were quite deceiving.

Stenstrom, making his third start in place of the injured Steve Young and ineffective Jeff Garcia, got the offense moving somewhat on the 49ers' second possession. He hit wide receiver J.J. Stokes on a 17-yard pass in the slot, and fullback Fred Beasley found a hole up the middle for a 19-yard gain.

But the momentum came to a quick halt when Stenstrom threw the ball up for grabs in the end zone, a high, floater that Packers strong safety LeRoy Butler bobbled but gathered in for an interception.

Another promising 49ers' drive hit a costly red-zone roadblock. Rice, breaking through his recent malaise, made an over-the-shoulder catch of a pass from Stenstrom for a 33-yard gain. Charlie Garner then broke through the grasp of Packers nose tackle Gilbert Brown at the line of scrimmage and rumbled 36 yards to the Green Bay 21.

The 49ers pushed farther, to the Packers' 17, but on 3rd down Stenstrom threw a dud into the ground in front of his third read, Beasley, and the 49ers settled for a 35-yard field goal by Wade Richey.

Nine seconds into the second quarter, the 49ers had a 3-0 lead, whetting the appetites of those yearning for the good ol' days. Yet the view from above -- rare as its been this season -- would be short- lived.

Favre got his own offense moving, hitting seven different receivers in the first half. And the Packers, who last week broke a three-game losing streak with a win over Detroit, wasted little time driving downfield. They also got a nice assist from the 49ers' secondary.

In an effort to stop the dreaded deep ball, Ramos McDonald draped himself all over wide receiver Corey Bradford. With the resulting 47-yard penalty pushing the ball downfield, Favre went on to hit Bradford with a 13-yard scoring pass, putting the Packers out front 7-3 with 3:01 remaining in the second quarter.

Placekicker Ryan Longwell missed a 30-yard field goal but connected on a 23-yarder with 27 seconds left before halftime for a 10-3 Green Bay advantage.

While the 49ers corners challenged Green Bay early in the game, their coverage slipped as the game progressed. By the third quarter, Montgomery was sitting back as many as 10 to 15 yards off his receiver, giving Bradford, Antonio Freeman and other receivers plenty of operating room.

Late in the the third quarter, the special teams broke down, too. After Stenstrom engineered a particularly inept three-and-out series, Green Bay rookie Antuan Edwards slashed his way through the 49ers' punt coverage for a 45-yard return.

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